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Title: Great Cookies : Secrets to Sensational Sweets by CAROLE WALTER ISBN: 0-609-60969-6 Publisher: Clarkson Potter Pub. Date: 04 November, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Superior Cookie Book for the Home Baker
Comment: Carole Walter belongs to a select group of women writing on baking in the home. Leading this group with Walter is Maida Heatter, the queen of cakes, Rose Levy Beranbaum of the baking 'Bible' series and Susan Purdy, also a writer on both pies and cakes. I suppose we should give an honorable mention to Nick Malgieri, who has written on pastry, cakes, cookies, and breads. The book in my library which most closely compares to Walter's cookie book is Nancy Baggett's 'The All-American Cookie Book'.
These two books are of similar length, these two authors have both won awards for their books on baking, and, of course, both are devoted entirely to cookies. Both books have sizable bibliographies. Both books have general chapters on technique. The scope of Baggett's book is somewhat limited in that it is focusing on cookie recipes born or nurtured in America. For that reason and for her larger bibliography, I give a few points to Baggett at the outset.
Baggett's introductory chapter on technique is, I believe, a little gem. Walter gives a much larger chapter at the end of her book on ingredients, tools, and techniques, which has a much more academic air about it. To even things up and actually come off ahead of Baggett in the pedagogical arena, Walter has page long sidebars with pointers on making each different type of cookie.
The chapter headings are quite different in the two books. Both divide cookies by type. Baggett's classification is largely based on ingredients. Walter's classification is largely based on technique. If I owned neither, I would pick Walter's book for this reason alone.
Both authors give entertaining headnotes to each of their recipes. This feature is a wash. Baggett provides photographs for a small minority of her recipes. Walter provides a very effective, arty but informative picture for each and every cookie. A big plus here. Photographs in cookbooks do generally not sway me and many great ones have been with us for decades with no rotogravure at all. But, I think good pictures are a definite plus to cookie books. Score a big plus to Walter.
Walter gives an excellent thumbnail guide to each recipe by giving an 'at a glance' table of 'Pan', 'Pan Prep', 'Oven Temperature', 'Baking Time', and 'Difficulty' ranking of 1, 2, or 3. Another big score for Walter.
I compared the recipes for two cookies I know well, Snickerdoodles and Chocolate Chip cookies, in the two books and I found some interesting differences, especially in the Snickerdoodles recipes. Walter uses half butter and half vegetable shortening while Baggett uses all butter. Baggett includes corn syrup and Walter does not. Baggett includes nutmeg and Walter does not. Walter evens things up by providing a delightfully simple way to achieve uniform spheres of cookie dough to roll in the cinnamon and sugar. Aside from this rolling technique, I would tend to prefer Baggett's recipe to avoid the vegetable shortening and get the nutmeg. The chocolate chip recipes were less different. I am sure all four recipes give good results.
The prices are identical for roughly the same number of recipes.
I would not feel overly redundant if I owned both, as both are excellent books. But, if you are looking for a single good cookie book, get 'Great Cookies' by Carole Walter. Very Highly Recommended.
Rating: 4
Summary: Shakie/Boston, MA
Comment: this is my favorit cookies cookbook, I did some research before I purchased this book. I like it because it has a lot beautiful photos of cookies and all the recipes I have tried came out very good.
Rating: 3
Summary: great looking book; sloppy instructions
Comment: I am delighted to have received this book as a gift. The book itself it just gorgeous and the variety of recipes makes the shortcomings worth putting up with. The quality recipes for icebox and cookie press types are rarely seen elsewhere. I have made four of the recipes: the molasses spice cookies and some biscotti. My criticism is that the instructions simply aren't well thought through and the author seems stuck in a different time, say Before-Food Processors. I feel each recipe could have been streamlined so that making them didn't take so many bowls or required a standup mixer. Key instructions used ambiguous language, such as "the log should be 1" wide" which wasn't correct based on the lovely picture and probably was meant to be 1" high. She keeps referring to "straining" the flour and I made a correct guess about what was intended until I discovered the pages of descriptions in the back. Also, gushy testimonials about a cookie e.g. "My husband's favorite," or gushy mentions of friends, assistants and the like, really aren't helpful. Finally, I feel the author needs a surer hand with spices. The molasses cookies seemed flat, the cardomom biscotti, a lovely idea, were cloying. Healthy alternatives in the fat department were not forthcoming. While not as expert as the previous reviewer, I like to make interesting cookies, especially biscotti. Recipes by Maida Heattie and Peg Cullen work beautifully for me. I would recommend those books (Got milk? / Great New Book of Cookies) for beginner or family use over this one.
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Title: The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts by Sherry Yard ISBN: 0618138927 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 November, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.95 |
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Title: Great Cakes by Carole Walter ISBN: 0676806856 Publisher: Not Avail Pub. Date: 01 July, 2001 List Price(USD): $9.99 |
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Title: Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate by Alice Medrich, Deborah Jones ISBN: 1579651607 Publisher: Artisan Pub. Date: November, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum ISBN: 0393057941 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: A Passion for Desserts by Emily Luchetti ISBN: 0811831787 Publisher: Chronicle Books Pub. Date: October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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